(Amended, SG Nos. 28/1992; 45/1995)

(1) Farm land may be individual citizen's, state, municipal, or legal persons' property.

(2) Political parties and organisations, movements and coalitions for political purposes may not have ownership of farm land.

(3) Foreign governments, foreign legal persons and legal persons with foreign participation may not have ownership of farm land.

(4) Foreign nationals may not acquire farm land otherwise than by legal deed of inheritance. Such persons shall transfer the farm land thus acquired to persons under paragraph (1) above within three years of the date that the inheritance is announced.

(5) Foreign legal persons and foreign nationals may acquire usufruct in farm land or other limited real rights in land by terms and procedures as provided by law.

(Amended, SG No. 28/1992)

(1) Proprietors shall be free to determine a manner of using farm land according to its purposes. Proprietors shall use land in a manner such as is not detrimental to soils and in compliance with sanitation, fire safety and environmental protection standards.

(2) Buildings and installations may be erected on farm land such as are related to its use by terms and procedures as provided by the Territorial and Urban Development Act.

(3) Expropriation of farm land for important government and municipal purposes shall be done pursuant to the Property Act and the Farm Lands Protection Act, and subject to a resolution by the Minister of Agriculture.

(4) Proprietors and users shall protect archaeological sites, cultural monuments, irrigation, power generation and other facilities and installations, geodetic and frontier signs such as exist on their land, and shall not prevent other proprietors, users and officials from using and maintaining such facilities and installations.

(5) Incorporation of farm land within the building development confines of settlements shall be done pursuant to the Farm Lands Protection Act and the Territorial and Urban Development Act.

(Amended, SG No. 79/1996)

(1) In the event of disposition, partition, amends-making and grant of land, farm land estates shall not be parcelled out into fragments the proportions whereof are less than the ones prescribed under Article 72 of the Inheritance Act.

(2) In the event of making amends of agricultural lands of a size less than such proportions and upon a request by the concerned persons, the land in point shall be amassed into a joint estate, and each owner shall possess his due share thereof.

(3) Partition of a farm estate or disposition of real shares of a farm estate shall be executed only if the separate shares thereof are detachable to constitute separate estates of such proportions as specified in paragraph 1 above under a project drawn up or approved by the respective land board.

(4) Attached to all deeds containing partitions, disposition transactions, alienation, change of function and appraisal of farm lands shall be a plot drawn up or endorsed by the land board.

(5) Public notaries, courts and other competent authorities shall within one month forward ex officiis to the land board a copy of all deeds under paragraph 4 issued or endorsed by them.

(6) The foregoing paragraphs shall not apply to the events under Article 17, paragraph 2.

(New, SG No. 45/1995)

(1) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) An owner may sell his farm land to the state at a price set in a regulation issued by the Council of Ministers. The Minister of Agriculture and the Food Industry shall promulgate in the official State Gazette the territories of land that are in need of farm land for grants of land, for amends-making or for meeting other needs as described in Article 24, paragraphs 2 and 3, as well as the size thereof. Where the land offered should fall within promulgated areas, the state may not refuse the purchase of such land up to the proportions of promulgated need of farm lands in terms of area and quality.

(2) A sale proposal in writing with documents certifying ownership attached thereto shall be submitted to the district agricultural office where the property is located.

(3) Within two months the district agricultural office shall send to the notary public responsible for the area where the property is located the owner's sale proposal and the documents annexed thereto as well as a payment order for the price of the property.

(4) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) The seller and the Minister of Agriculture and the Food Industry, or an authorised proxy of his, shall sign a deed for the sale which shall be registered into the notary records. The notary public shall enter a certification on the payment order and the seller shall fetch the price.

(5) A co-owner shall have the right to sell to the state his part of the property if he files a sale proposal and written evidence and declarations that he has fulfilled his obligations under Article 33 of the Property Act.

(6) The notary public shall send ex-officio to the land board a copy of the registered deed for the sale.

(New, SG No. 45/1995)

(1) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) In the case of sale of farm land where the seller should set the price outside the order described in Article 9 above, the following succession of buyers shall be observed:

(2) The seller shall present to the notary a copy of the announcement showing observance of the priority of buyers to whom equal terms of the sale have been offered and a declaration in writing that none of the possible buyers with a higher priority has accepted the proposal.

(3) A co-owner of farm land may sell his part of the property to the buyers shown in paragraph 1 above if it is expressly shown in the sale announcement that the requirements of Article 33 of the Property Act have been observed.

(4) The notary public shall send ex-officio to the land board the deed registered in the notary records by virtue of which ownership rights are transferred and other material rights over farm land are created, transferred, modified or discontinued.

(5) Land acquired by municipalities and the state shall be used for transfer to persons without landed property, as compensation or to meet other needs under Article 24, paragraphs 2 and 3.

(Amended, SG Nos. 28/1992; 48/1993; 45/1995)

(1) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) Proprietors or their inheritors shall be reinstated in possession of the farm lands they used to own prior to the institution of Labour Co-operative Farms (TKZS) or State Farms (DZS) and used to be incorporated therein or in other suchlike agricultural organisations set up on the basis thereof.

(2) Proprietors shall be reinstated in their farm land as nationalised under the repealed Article 12 of the Property Act, subject to reimbursement of moneys received in compensation.

(3) Proprietors who donated their land to TKZS or the State shall be reinstated.

(4) Proprietors shall be reinstated in their farm land where unlawfully dispossessed.

(5) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) Proprietors shall be reinstated in afforested or self-afforested farm land, as well as in lands incorporated without compensation into the state forestry reserve, with the exception of forest nurseries, special purpose forests and forest shelter belts. In tracts of special destination forests proprietors shall be reinstated in possession of arable lands and forest pastures. Such reinstatement shall be effected by way of a decision under Article 14, paragraph 1, item 1.

(6) Proprietors shall be reinstated in farm yards managed as farm land by TKZS, DZS or other TKZS and DZS-based agricultural organisations, in the effaced or abandoned settlements (villages and hamlets).

(7) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) Proprietors shall be reinstated in possession of lands that used to be incorporated in Labour Co-operative Farms, State Farms, or other suchlike agricultural organisations set up on the basis thereof, and are located within the building development confines of settlements, except where third persons have lawfully acquired the right of property over the lands, or where such projects have been undertaken thereupon which render reinstatement inadmissible, or where the right to build has been ceded and the erection of a lawfully afforded building has commenced. Reinstatement shall be effected by enactment of a decision under Article 14, paragraph 1, item 1.

(8) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) Proprietors shall be reinstated in farm land up to such proportions as specified by the repealed Article 8, paragraph (1) and Article 10 of the Earned Landed Property Act.

(9) Proprietors shall be reinstated, at their request, in land nationalised as forests and subsequently transformed into farm land.

(10) Proprietors shall be reinstated in land that is polluted, eroded, salinated, with high acid content or with excess moisture in the surface layer, and the expenses for its ecological reclamation shall be borne by the State. The Council of Ministers shall determine the procedure and manner of the ecological reclamation of such land and the control over polluted farm land.

(11) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) Reinstated in land shall be such persons who have been granted land under the Earned Landed Property Act, including those who have not paid, in part or in full, the instalments due, with the exception of such persons who have lost their rights over such land.

(12) (New, SG No. 79/1996) Proprietors shall be reinstated under the procedure laid down in Article 14, paragraph 1, item 1, in possession of lands that are not built-up and do not represent areas contiguous to buildings in the farm yards of Labour Co-operative Farms, State Farms, or other suchlike agricultural organisations set up on the basis thereof.

(New, SG No. 28/1992; Amended, SG No. 45/1995)

(1) Reinstatement shall be done within the real boundaries of land owned wherever existent or if possible to be established from the Cadastre of settlements or from compensation plans.

(2) Wherever boundaries of land no longer exist, reinstatement in ownership shall be done within real boundaries of farm land of equivalent area on the territory of the respective settlement or an adjacent territory, and upon proprietor's consent, on another territory, following division and consolidation of real estates on it.

(3) Foreign nationals who are reinstated in property pursuant to this Article shall within three years transfer said property to persons under Article 3, paragraph 1.

(1) (New, SG No. 28/1992; Amended, SG Nos. 45/1995; 79/1996) Proprietors of lands that used to be incorporated in Labour Co-operative Farms, State Farms, or other suchlike agricultural organisations set up on the basis thereof, located within the building development limits of settlements or outside such limits and which are built-up or such projects have been undertaken thereupon which render reinstatement in ownership inadmissible, shall be compensated, at their request, with land of equal worth from the state and/or municipal landed reserve, or by terms and procedures as provided by the Transformation and Privatisation of State and Municipal Enterprises Act. The lands to be granted in compensation from the state landed reserve shall be designated by executive order of the Minister of Agriculture and the Food Industry, while those from the municipal landed fund — by an resolution of the municipal council. The respective land board shall furnish the needful information to the Minister of Agriculture and the Food Industry and the municipal council.

(2) Proprietors of land nationalised under the repealed Article 12 of the Property Act, who cannot be reinstated in ownership pursuant to the circumstances stated in the preceding paragraph, shall be compensated by terms and procedures as provided by the Transformation and Privatisation of State and Municipal Enterprises Act.

(3) (New, SG No. 79/1996) Proprietors of lands in the territory whereof reinstatement in ownership of over 60 percent of farm lands is impossible due to the circumstances specified in paragraph 1 above, shall be compensated, at their request, under the terms and procedures of this Act, or by terms and procedures provided for by another act of legislation.

(4) Proprietors dispossessed in land pursuant to Article 8 of the Earned Landed Property Act of April 9, 1946, and not compensated pursuant to Article 14 et seq of the said Act, whose property was not restituted pursuant to Article 10, paragraph 8 of the said Act, shall be compensated by terms and procedures as provided by the Transformation and Privatisation of State and Municipal Enterprises Act.

(5) Land ownership over which cannot be restituted as a result of the circumstances described in the above paragraph shall be the property of the state.

(Amended, SG Nos. 74/1991; 28/1992; 45/1995; 79/1996)

(1) Bulgarian nationals or their heirs whose farm lands have served as a government debt redemption pursuant to the Agreement on the Settlement of Open Financial Issues and Economic Co-operation Development between the People's Republic of Bulgaria and the Kingdom of Greece (SG, No 87 of 1964) shall be indemnified as follows:

(2) Bulgarian nationals entitled to moneys in compensation under Chapter III of the Settlement of Ownership in Real Estates in South Dobroudja Act (promulgated SG, No 157 of 1942; repealed Izv., No 16 of 1951) shall be indemnified with lands from the state landed reserve and/or by the terms and following the procedures of the Transformation and Privatisation of State and Municipal Enterprises Act.

(3) Persons under the foregoing paragraphs 1 and 2 shall file petitions with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Food Industry by December 31, 1996.

(Amended, SG Nos. 18, 28 & 46/1992; 45/1995; 79/1996)

(1) Persons under Article 10 above shall file petitions for reinstatement in farm land within seventeen months from the date that this Act comes into force.

(2) Persons failed to file petitions within the period under paragraph (1) above, shall claim against the respective land board to reinstate ownership of farm land. The land board shall set out the land for restitution of ownership on grounds of the ruling and abiding by this Act.

(3) The claim under paragraph 2 may be filed no later than December 31, 1996.

(4) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) Where a court ruling is presented to the respective land board later than 14 days following the promulgation in the official State Gazette of an announcement that the land division plan had been drafted, the owner shall be indemnified under the terms and procedures specified in Article 10b.

(Amended, SG Nos. 28/1992; 45/1995; 79/1996)

(1) Petitions under the preceding Article shall be referred to the respective land board. Petitions shall contain description of the estate concerned together with evidence of ownership.

(2) Ownership shall be proven by: act of notary, deeds of partition, TKZS protocols, land registers, applications for TKZS membership, rent ledgers protocols and decisions for vesting in landed property, including under the Earned Landed Property Act of 1946 and the Regulation for its application, and other evidence in writing. In the event that differences should be found in the data contained in the documents, the data from the latest documents shall be used.

(3) In the absence of evidence in writing the applicant may attach to his petition a signed statement certified by a notary public to declare his ownership. The signatory shall be liable for misinformation under Article 313 of the Criminal Code.

(4) Every party concerned may establish, under legal procedure, its rights on the real estate restituted under paragraph (3) above, and claim compensation for damages suffered and benefits missed.

(5) The data in the declaration under paragraph 3 shall be verified on site and shall be evaluated by the land board or by the court with a view that all data available of the land in the area; any such evaluation shall also be guided by the requirement for completeness of the description of the property.

(6) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) In the event that the land claimed should exceed the amount of land available in the area at the time of the establishment of the labour co-operative farms, the state farms and other suchlike agricultural organisations, the Minister of Agriculture and the Food Industry shall be empowered to discontinue the land-division for the purpose of precisely specifying the amount of land due to each claimant, as well as to order a land board to rescind or modify earlier enacted decisions. In such cases persons found to have filed false petitions and declarations shall be held materially liable for damages inflicted as well.

(1) (Amended, SG No. 28/1992) Land boards shall post petitions filed with the information presented at municipalities or other appropriate places.

(Amended, SG Nos. 28/1992; 45/1995; 79/1996)

(1) A land board shall hand down rulings on:

(2) The Board's rulings shall be notified to persons concerned under the Code of Civil Procedure.

(3) The Board's rulings may be appealed against before the District Court within 14 days of notification. Appeals shall be lodged with the respective land board. The Court shall rule at the substance of the matter.

(4) Where disputes arise on material rights every person concerned shall establish his rights by court action.

(5) In legal proceedings at the District Court all forms of evidence under the Code of Civil Procedure shall be valid as well.

(6) The land board may correct at its own initiative or at the request of interested persons any obvious factual errors made in the ruling under this Article.

(7) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) Where infractions of the law shall have been ascertained and/or new circumstances or new written evidence shall have been found that are of substantial significance for handing down a ruling under paragraph 1, a land board shall be empowered, at its own initiative or at the request of the concerned persons, within one (1) year following the emergence of such new circumstances, or new written evidence, or the ascertainment of the infractions of the law but not later than two (2) years following the handing down of a ruling, to make a new ruling amending the previous one. This procedure shall not apply where a court ruling has entered into force in respect of the same lands.

(7a) (New, SG 79/1996) Interested persons shall have the right to require, under the conditions and following the procedure laid down in paragraph 7 above, that a land board modify the persons in favour or to the prejudice of whom their ruling has been handed down.

(8) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) The rulings under paragraphs 6 and 7, as well as under Article 12, paragraph 6, shall be made known following the procedure described in paragraph 2 and may be appealed in the manner and within the terms laid down in paragraph 3. Where the rulings are handed down following the promulgation in the official State Gazette of the announcement that the land division plan has been drafted and the 14-day time-limit for lodging an appeal has expired, the owners shall be indemnified under the terms and procedures specified in Article 10b.

(9) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) A land board shall be represented before the court by the president or secretary thereof, or by a duly authorised person having a degree in law, or by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry.

(Amended, SG Nos. 28/1992; 45/1995; 79/1996)

(1) Municipal Councils shall, within six months of the date this Act comes into force, provide land boards with information on changes in the area of farm land within the respective territory.

(2) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) Proprietors, at their request, shall be indemnified for the differential between the land under rightful claim and land received in restitution with equivalent lands from the state and/or municipal landed fund and/or by the terms and procedures provided for by the Transformation and Privatisation of State and Municipal Enterprises Act. Lands shall be appraised under such terms and procedures as prescribed by the Council of Ministers in consideration of the current market prices in the respective area.

(3) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) Owners shall be indemnified under the procedure specified in paragraph 2 also where the court ruling by virtue whereof their right to restitution of ownership of farm land has been acknowledged has been presented to the land board later than 14 days following the promulgation of an announcement in the official State Gazette that a land division plan has been drafted.

(4) Legal persons who have worked out or keep and maintain cadastral topographic and geodetic information on the territories of settlements, shall submit it to the state authorities within 10 days from request. Information shall be submitted free of charge, with the exception of the expenses incurred for producing copies of the documentation.

(Amended, SG Nos. 28/1992; 45/1995; 79/1996)

(1) Ownership of farm land within new real boundaries shall be restituted using land similar in quantity and quality, appropriately reduced in the cases under Article 15, paragraph 2 and if possible located in the areas where the properties of the petitioners had been located at the time of their inclusion in TKZS, DZS or other organisations based on them. The new real boundaries shall be established with the land division plan. Restitution of property shall be made by a ruling of the land board on the basis of a land division plan that has entered into force. Said ruling shall include description of the size and category of the farm land, its location, confines, neighbours, as well as limitations on the property and the reasons for such limitations. A plan of the property shall be annexed to the ruling.

(2) Whenever the ruling under Art 14, paragraph 1, item 2 has been issued in the name of a deceased owner his legal heirs may divide among themselves the lands determined by the ruling for restitution of property. The contract of division shall be in writing and the signatures of the parties thereto shall be notarised. Until promulgation in the State Gazette of the announcement of the land division plan the heirs may require from the land board to issue a ruling under paragraph 1 for each of them pursuant to his or her rights as established by the contract of division.

(3) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) By written request of such land-owners to whom a ruling under Article 14, paragraph 1, item 1 has been issued, or partitions have been effected following the procedure under paragraph 2, their lands, located within one and the same locality shall be grouped together by virtue of the land division plan and placed in adjacency to each other provided that other persons' rights are not thuswise violated.

(4) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) Separate land division plans shall be adopted in respect of territories occupied by perennial crops, rice fields and canal equipment, which shall be part and parcel of the land division plan for the entire territory under the following conditions: persons who have received perennials by virtue of a land division plan shall be entitled to receive a loan for the payment thereof by the terms and under the procedure of Article 13, paragraph 1, item "c" of the Agricultural Producers' Protection Act.

(5) In the land division plan the lands of any particular owner shall be placed in one location. The other requirements to which the land division plan should conform and the manner of its development shall be established with the Regulation for the application of the Act.

(6) Restitution of property shall take place after harvesting of the crop unless the proprietor pays compensation.

(7) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) Prior to entry into force of the land division plan petitioners who have been issued a ruling under Article 14, paragraph 1, item 2, or where partitions have been effected under the procedure laid down in paragraph 2, may be put in possession of farm lands in such proportions as shall not exceed the ones specified in the ruling.

(8) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) A land division plan that has come into force may be amended by an executive order of the Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry in the event of:

(9) (New, SG No. 79/1996) Concerned citizens who have failed to appeal against enacted land division plans prior to the promulgation of this Act, shall have the right to make an appeal within another three-month time-limit.

(New, SG No. 45/1995)

(1) (New, SG No. 79/1996) Indemnification shall be effected with lands from the state or municipal land reserve in proportion to the factual availability of landed funds in the respective territory.

(2) Compensation with land from the state or municipal land reserve shall be conducted by the land board in the following order:

(3) The other terms and procedure of compensating with land from the state and municipal land reserve shall be established with the Regulation for the application of this Act.

(1) (Amended, SG Nos. 45/1995; 79/1996) Landless persons and small proprietors shall be granted land by respective land boards from the national and municipal land reserves by way of transferring the property rights or leasing out by such terms and under such procedure as shall be prescribed in an ordinance enacted by the Council of Ministers.

(2) (New, SG No. 79/1996) The size and locality of lands to be granted shall be specified by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry on a motion by the land board as regards lands belonging to the state landed reserve, and by the municipal council where lands constituting municipal landed funds are concerned, in proportion to the factual availability of landed funds in the respective territory. Same authorities shall specify what part thereof shall be transferred in possession or leased out.

(3) (New, SG No. 79/1996) Land shall be granted within the territory of the settlement where a person takes up his permanent abode, or where his farm lands have been reinstated, as well as within neighbouring territories.

(4) Persons thus vested with landed property may not transfer said property before the expiry of 10 years of the date of acquisition unless the transfer is made to the State or the local Municipality.

(1) (Amended, SG Nos. 28/1992) Among persons eligible to be thus vested with property, preference shall be given, as follows:

(2) Among applicants of the same category, preference shall be given to those who do not own any land or own less by comparison with others.

(3) A land board's rulings on petitions shall be notified to persons concerned pursuant to the Code of Civil Procedure and may be appealed against pursuant to Article 14 above.

(1) (Amended, SG Nos. 28/1992; 45/1995; 79/1996) The State shall retain its ownership of farm lands according to the status quo at the time of entry of this Act into force, with the exception of the lands subject to restitution. The Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry shall exercise the owner's rights in respect of lands included in the state landed fund.

(2) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) The property rights of the State over farm lands allotted to research, research and manufacture, and academic institutions, inclusive of the Ministry of Transportation, to the penitentiaries, to seed production and pedigree animal farms, fruit tree nurseries, pepper nurseries, forest nurseries and hunting estates, inasmuch as are necessary for their activities, shall be retained in such proportions as correspond to such institutions' basic nature of business and as determined by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry following consultations with all administrations concerned.

(3) The State's ownership of farm land allotted to the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of the Interior and other departments directly pertaining to national defence and security, shall be retained on territories and in size determined by the Council of Ministers on a motion by the Minister of Defence, or by the Minister of the Interior, respectively, or by the head of the respective department.

(4) Proprietors shall not be reinstated in ownership of farm land such as is part of reserves under the Environmental Protection Act or other protected areas of national and international importance for environmental protection, including land, and below the surface thereof, of immovable archaeological sites and cultural heritage.

(5) The lands under paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 shall be the property of the state. These may only be used for the purposes for which they had been granted. The users of such lands shall not be entitled to permit other persons to use such lands.

(6) Proprietors under paragraphs (2), (3) and (4) above shall be granted compensation pursuant to Article 10b, paragraph (1).

(1) (Amended, SG No. 45/1995) Farm land, outside such as is owned by individuals, legal persons or the State, shall be municipal property.

(2) Municipalities shall be reinstated in ownership of farm land of which they were dispossessed to benefit DZS, TKZS, agro-industrial complexes (APK), agricultural companies and, also, state forest estates where such have been included as part of the State Forest Reserve, except if these are forest nurseries, protective forest belts and special purpose forests.

(1) (Amended, SG Nos. 28/1992; 45/1995; 79/1996) Proprietors of land incorporated in labour co-operative farms and state farms, members of labour co-operative farms or of other agricultural organisations set up on the basis thereof, as well as all persons in legal labour relations with them, shall be entitled to a share of such entities' property. Shares shall be assessed on the basis of a person's contribution to the acquisition thereof: contributed land, perennials, length of service and moneys paid up for the acquisition of machinery and equipment not cleared by subsequent payment. The distribution of shares shall be effected under the terms and procedures laid down in the Regulations for the Implementation of this Act, in equal proportions of contributed land and length of service and following the reimbursement of moneys provided for the acquisition of machinery and equipment not cleared by payment. Where a rightful claimant has not made contributions of land and fixed assets, his years of service shall be taken into account, provided they are not less than five (5).

(2) Members of co-operative farms shall have the right to withdraw their shares at termination of membership.

(3) Persons, and their inheritors, who have terminated their membership before this Act comes into force shall also be entitled to shares.

(4) The persons under paragraph 1 may execute a written contract for entering their shares in a co-operative or commercial company of which they are members. The co-operative or company may receive property of the organisation under § 12 of the Transitional and Concluding Provisions against the sum total of the shares contributed by their members. The property received shall be the property of the co-operative or company and its value shall be registered as shares of the members of the co-operative or shareholders in proportion to their rights. In the event of termination of membership in a co-operative or commercial company, these shares shall be returned to the co-operative under the terms, conditions and procedure established by the Co-operatives Act and the statute of the co-operative, or the terms of the Trading Act and the statute of the company.

(5) Whenever several persons under paragraphs 1 and 4 have requested the granting of an item related to agricultural production against shares in the organisation under § 12 of the Transitional and Concluding Provisions, priority shall have those who manufacture agricultural produce or offer manufacturing services related thereto; and if several persons should meet that requirement, priority shall have those who cover a larger part of the value of the requested item.

(6) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) Persons who have taken possession of buildings from the property of the organisations under § 12 of the Transitional and Concluding Provisions, shall be also entitled to utilise gratis, as of the day of acquisition of the buildings, the non-built portion of land surrounding such buildings within such proportions as are set by the law for a period of one (1) year following the entry into force of the land division plan. They can acquire the property over that land and over the built-up portion of it by way of:

(7) Whenever the person under paragraph 6 is a legal person, the compensation under item 2 of that paragraph can be made to its members who are eligible for compensation.

(1) (Amended, SG Nos. 28/1992) TKZS shall be reinstated in ownership of farm land, fixed and financial assets, etc. as dispossessed of them or of based on them DZS to benefit other entities.

(2) Where such property is an indivisible part of existing assets and the project has not changed its purposes since its foundation, it shall be restituted to the proprietor who will reimburse the difference in value.

(3) Where TKZS property was transferred to DZS, tractor depot or other state-owned organisations, and has since become part of corporate property, TKZS share in equity, or that of its legal successor, shall be determined in proportion to property transferred by TKZS to DZS or other state-owned organisations.

(4) Paragraph (4) is repealed.

(5) Paragraph (5) is repealed.

(1) (Amended, SG Nos. 28/1992) The Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the other religious denominations, co-operatives and other organisations, shall, at their request, be reinstated in ownership of farm land, as dispossessed, unless such land has since been lawfully built up for purposes other than farming, or granted to individuals. In such cases the above organisations shall be compensated with land equal in quality and area from the State or Municipal Land Reserves. In the absence of such appropriate land compensation shall be conducted by terms and procedures as provided by law.

(2) Subject to consent of the organisations under paragraph (1) above, reinstatement in ownership may be done elsewhere in the country.

(1) (Amended, SG Nos. 28/1992; 45/1995; 79/1996) Land boards shall be bodies of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Food Industry. They shall be appointed, established, re-established and disbanded by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry. He shall appoint and dismiss the president, secretary and members of such boards.

(2) (Amended, SG No. 79/1996) Land boards shall restitute property over lands under the provisions of this Act, shall maintain and update land division plans and other materials and data obtained in result of the enforcement of this Act, shall issue land plans for usufruct transactions and division of farm lands and shall conduct such other activities as prescribed by the Regulations for the implementation of this Act.

(3) (New, SG No. 79/1996) Performance of activities related to maintenance and update of land division plans and of other materials and data obtained in result of the enforcement of this Act, shall be assigned by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry, or by persons duly authorised by him, on a motion by the land board to licensed contractors within one (1) month following the entry into force of land division plans.

(4) (New, SG No. 79/1996) The powers of the Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry relative to the implementation of this Act may also be exercised by persons authorised by him in writing.

(5) The Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry shall determine the employed strength, the functions and tasks of land boards in connection with the need to maintain, amend and up-date land division plans.

§ 1 Absence of written evidence as construed in the accepted meaning of Article 12, paragraph 3 shall be available in such events where the documents described in Article 12, paragraph 2 have been destroyed or lost through no fault of the land-owners.

§ 2 The usufruct of farm land the ownership wherein has been reinstated under this Act shall be enjoyed pursuant to a land board's ruling under Article 14, paragraph 1, item 1, or under Article 17, paragraph 1.

§ 2a In the accepted meaning of this Act undertaken projects that render inadmissible reinstatement in ownership shall be such construction, civil engineering and other activities with a view to the performance whereof it is allowable by the national law to have in the continuance of their performance the right of ownership over lands alienated for purposes of the state or the municipality, as well as the presence over such lands of third persons' subjective rights wherewith the restitution of property is incompatible.

§ 40 The sentence "No charges shall be payable for court proceedings pursuant to this Act" shall be added to the end of Article 7 of the Property Reinstatement of Nationalised Immovables Act.

§ 41 Within one month from the date that this Act comes into force the Council of Ministers shall revoke land expropriations for state purposes, when the expropriated land has not been used for such purposes or they have dropped off.

§ 24 Such projects of land division plans wherefore no announcement of their elaboration has been promulgated in the official State Gazette as of the date of entry of this Act into force, shall be drawn up pursuant to the requirements thereof.

§ 25 In respect of land division plans that have entered into force, the time limit under Article 17, paragraph 8 of the Ownership and Use of Farm Land Act shall be effective as of the entry into force of this Act.

§ 26 The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry jointly with municipalities shall, within one (1) year following the entry into force of this Act, organise and control the drawing up of cadastral and parcellation plans of lands granted to be used by citizens prior to August 17, 1990 pursuant to various enactments by the hitherto Presidium of the National Assembly, the State Council or the Council of Ministers. The funds needed for the elaboration of such cadastral and land parcellation plans shall be provided in equal parts by the state and municipal budget.

§ 27 Persons under Article 10b, paragraphs 1, 2 and 3, Article 10c, Article 15 paragraph 2 of the Ownership and Use of Farm Land Act shall, within one (1) year following the entry into force of this Act, specify in additional applications the mode of indemnification.

§ 1. The Minister of Defence, the Minister of Agriculture and the district governors shall be responsible for the implementation of this decree.

§ 2. Annexes Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 shall be confidential.